Neal Ludevig

Neal Ludevig (born March 1, 1987) is an American producer, curator, musician and social entrepreneur. He currently leads Moon31 as the CEO and is the Senior Associate Producer of Future x Sounds USA. He is most known for being a co-founder of the Harlem Arts Festival, and for curating and co-producing the 50th Year Anniversary of the Harlem Cultural Festival (aka Black Woodstock).
Education
Ludevig attended Brandeis University from 2005 - 2008, and graduated with a double major in American Studies and Sociology. During that time he was a member of the co-ed a cappella group Starving Artists, and served as the Justice of the Union Judiciary in the Student Union. In 2007 Neal joined a New York-based band "The Scarlet", which won Spin magazine's "Hot Pursuit" Competition, was briefly signed to Original Signal Recordings/Epic Records, and performed at SXSW in 2008 alongside Vampire Weekend.
Career
After university, Ludevig was awarded the TaLK scholarship and lived in South Korea teaching English and Music. Moving back to New York City, Ludevig began working at Addeo Music International (AMI) as a booking agent and manager, working with artists such as Robert Glasper, Pharoah Sanders, Medeski Martin & Wood, Paquito D'Rivera, José James, Lee Konitz, Gerald Clayton, Mos Def, Roy Ayers, a non profit based in Harlem dedicated towards supporting artists of all disciplines that had a connection to the community. The organization's first year was in part funded through a successful Kickstarter campaign, which received attention from the New York Times, DailyCandy, The Daily News, and other media outlets. The organization's events were attended by more than 17,000 attendees by 2017, was sponsored by organization such as Jetblue, ConEd, Whole Foods, Goldman Sachs, and others. Ludevig served as the Executive Director and a member of the board from 2011-2017.
During his time at Harlem Arts Festival, the organization presented such artists as Timothy Bloom, Braxton Cook, Sidra Bell, Stefanie Batten Bland, Toni Blackman, Divinity Roxx, Maurice Brown, Bentley Meeker, and in its final year, was the last publicly advertised performance for Prodigy (of Mobb Deep) before his passing. M1 of Dead Prez performed at a tribute concert hosted by Harlem Arts Festival and released never-before-heard lyrics of Prodigy. Under Ludevig's tenure, the Harlem Arts Festival's activities served more than 200 artists, was covered by a number of media outlets including The New York Times, NY1, ABC, CBS, Artnet, and many others.
ENLIGHTENED Ice Cream
In 2012 he became the Chief operating Officer at ENLIGHTENED Ice Cream, a national CPG company started by a former classmate at Brandeis, Michael Shoretz. Under his tenure, the company expanded its distribution to more than 4,000 stores across the country.
Moon31
In 2019, Ludevig appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and a number of other media outlets as a curator and co-producer for a series of events celebrating the 50th Year Anniversary of the Harlem Cultural Festival (aka Black Woodstock), which he produced alongside Future x Sounds and City Park Foundations Summerstage
Currently Neal is the CEO and founder of Moon31, a media agency based in New York City, and the Senior Associate Producer of Future x Sounds USA. He is also a producer on the YouTube mini-series "Insomnia".
Awards & Recognition
* 2015 Congressman Rangel established a "Harlem Arts Festival" day
* 2016 APAP Selected as an ELI Emerging Leader

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